Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The race is on

In a culture where decisions and actions are measured in calendar time and not minutes and seconds, it is hard to describe what "ramping up" looks like.

Here is an example. In America, on 4 November there was a national election. The results indicated there would be a massive change in government faces and policies. Yet by 20 January the next year, there was a government in place. The thought of this not being able to be accomplished never crossed anyone's mind. (At this point I will not offer editorial comment on what did cross the minds of many). But there was a major political shift in about 11 weeks. No bloodshed, no negotiation, no nationwide protests, just a new government. Americans make things happen.

In June 2007 there were national elections in Belgium. There was a "landslide" victory and everyone thought the person receiving a massive amount of votes would certainly be able to form a stable coalition government. Since then there has been no stable federal government. Due to the continuing conflict, in June 2010 there were once again federal elections. Once again there was a winner with a massive amount of votes. He said he hoped to form a government by 1 September. For now no one is placing bets on that being the case.

Quick and definitive decisions that lead to rapid actions are not generally a cultural phenomenon here.

So ramping up to action looks different. We have been led to increase the Intentional Acts of Kindness Cookie Outreach from 1,300 bags to 4,000 bags. Instead of one volunteer team of five we will have two volunteer teams of 13. This is certainly a challenging but not unthinkable task in our sending culture.

In our living culture, it could well be equated to putting people on every planet in the solar system at the same time. No one would imagine it. "What could you possibly do with all those cookies?" "A thousand cookies was a tremendous amount, 4000 seems ridiculous."

I suppose a group of wanderers marching around a heavily fortified city seemed like little threat to the residents of that city. One man's death changing eternity seems unimaginable. Building a boat to ride out a flood when it had never rained seemed like a flight of fancy or act of lunacy. Get the idea? There are things that seem unimaginable.

But that is just where God wants to work. He wants us to walk where we cannot imagine. Faith is stepping out of the boat and not seeing the waves but the hand of the One who has a greater vision.

One of our local friends was commenting on how much work all of this is. My response was, "If one person falls in love with the One Who loves him so much it is certainly worth the effort."

We ramp up not just to get bigger. Bigger is not better, better is better. We ramp up because of the magnitude and urgency of the task. There are millions of prisoners of war here. They are being held captive by one who want to subjugate and brainwash them. They are held captive by one who knows no love. How can we stand by and let even more be taken captive?

Ramping up is not a option, it is the only choice many will have.